Feeding COVID hunger

MCC CareNet
Passionate. Visionary. Innovative

Kellie Ann Wishart leapt into action to meet the growing demand for food relief sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, and many local families are better off as a result.

Kellie has spent many years helping people in crisis as a social worker and started a small community food pantry, MCC CareNet, through her church in 2019.

When the pandemic hit, demand for food relief grew eight-fold.

This inspired Kellie and MCC CareNet to work with another local charity to create The Food Collective Project to expand food relief across the wider community.

Thanks to Kellie, a team of volunteers distribute food donated to the project to other services that can reach people doing it tough. The project currently provides 130 families with food relief each week.

“I have seen the difference that well-timed, useful emergency relief makes,” says Kellie.

Now MCC CareNet plans to expand its hours and develop a mobile food pantry.

Kellie is humbled to be nominated as a Westfield Local Hero. “What we have achieved has been a collaborative effort. To see the relief on a parent’s face when you provide them with food that they not only need but their family will enjoy makes all the hard work worth it,” she says.

Westfield Local Heroes are nominated and voted for by their communities, with the three top finalists per Westfield centre each awarded a $10,000 grant for their affiliated organisation. MCC CareNet and The Food Collective Project will use the funds to deliver a weekly box of seasonal produce to 20 vulnerable families for a year.

For further information on the Westfield Local Heroes program, click here